A Tel Aviv court ruled on Thursday that an Israeli boy whose parents died in an Italian cable car accident be returned to relatives in Italy, rejecting a request from a 6-year-old grandfather to keep him in Israel. done.
Eaton Byrne has been at the center of a bitter custody battle between relatives in Italy and Israel as his parents, younger brother and great-grandfather were among 14 people killed in May when a cable car hit a hill in northern Italy Was.
Both his maternal grandparents in Israel and his maternal grandparents in Italy are seeking custody. His family in Israel asked an appeals court to halt his planned return to Italy, but the Tel Aviv magistrate’s court rejected the request.
“With full understanding of the pain of the appellant and the minor’s grandmother, there is no option but to dismiss the appeal. We order that she be returned to Italy within 15 days,” the ruling said, noting that Biran His grandfather had taken him illegally from Italy.
The family can still appeal the matter to the Supreme Court.
His maternal grandfather, Shmulik Peleg, made headlines in September when he took Biran on a private jet to Israel against the wishes of his family in Italy. Italy issued an international arrest warrant For Peleg alleged on Wednesday that he kidnapped Biran when he took her from his aunt’s house and took her to Israel.
The Byron family, with Eaton at right. (courtesy)
According to the Italian daily Corriere della Sera, warrants have been issued for Peleg as well as Gabriel Abutubul Alon, a “contractor” apparently used to transport Peleg and his grandson from Italy to neighboring Switzerland. The vehicle to be carried was gone, where they had boarded the flight. Israel.
Peleg has claimed that he did not take a regular flight from Italy because he wanted to travel as quickly as possible without exposing the child to other people. In September, Dada was questioned by Israeli police on kidnapping charges before his conditional release. In an interview at the time, Peleg defended his decision to bring the child to Israel, saying it was in his best interest, and denied that he had kidnapped the boy.
Eaton’s paternal relatives say he was taken away without his knowledge and filed a legal complaint about his return to Italy.
At the time of the accident, Eaton and his parents, Amit Biran and Tal Peleg, and his younger brother Tom were living in Italy, where Amit Biran was studying medicine.
Aya Biran-Nirko, a paternal aunt of Etan Biran, the boy who survived a cable car accident in Italy that killed his immediate family, arrives at court in Tel Aviv on October 8, 2021. (AP/Tsfir Abayov)
Following his release from a Turin hospital after weeks of treatment following the accident, Italian juvenile court officials ruled that the child would remain with his aunt, Aya Biran, near Pavia in northern Italy.
Last month, a Tel Aviv court ordered the return of the 6-year-old to his relatives in Italy, where he will remain in the custody of his aunt. The judge recognized him as a lawful guardian based on an Italian court ruling and said that Peleg had “unlawfully” removed the boy from his aunt’s care.
The court “ordered the minor to return to his usual place of residence in Italy,” the country where he was one month old, and noted that it was there that the boy’s future and welfare would be decided. In addition, Peleg was ordered to pay NIS 70,000 ($21,835) in court expenses.
The judge also called for reconciliation with the family, saying it was in the boy’s interest.
Peleges’ appeal states that Aya Biran was never officially detained at Eton and that the boy wanted to live in Israel.
